Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1887-06-08
ALL SORTS OF RINGS.
A jewelers. Chat About Ancient CircIets
and MoGern En-ayernant IL rrnlrv

y
downtown ieweler the other day as he
opened his curiosity drawer for the benefit
| Of Chicago NeeS reporter.
''Nolr We'll, / have one hero that /
picked up abroad last summer, and con-
sdered quite find. Here it is, you see,''
and he produced a heavily chased golden
Crclet, set with three rubes, one large
stone and three smaller ones. A spring at
the base of the central stone, when press
cd, caused the app lreAsly solid setting to
part, disclosing receptacle large enough
TO hold at least three h)m eop Ithic pills.
"Thcre," explained the owner OF the ring,
'that's how our alniaoie friends of ancient
t.mo used to keep their poison handy.
In little hole like that a
man could hoop enough of one of the
virGlclt vegetable poisonS used then to
XIII OF twenty or thirty of his friends or
enemies. whichever happened to be most
in his way. Caesar Borgias famous ring
was something like this ono, only instead
Of spring his had slide at the back,
where he is said to have car~ied the
poison he was in the habit OF dropping ~
! to the wine of his unsuspactlng guests.
Another kind of poison ring, which in
Nenice was called death ring ha at
| tache1 to inside two claws male of tho
sharpest steel, and having ciefts in III en-
hled with powerful poison AT crowded
assembly or n ball thu wearer of this
fatal ring, wishing 70 be revenged on any
person, would take his hand, anl when
pressing it the sharp claw would be sure
to iuf'ct a slight scratch on the skin.
This was enough, for on the foil owing
morning the victim would be sure to be
found dead THIS ring Of mine is a
genuine antique, made, as nearly as ]
could discover, in the fifteenth century.
SsEnra a s1l,.:N1 Nl ,.;n I,
key attached. Rings of this sort were
quite common among the Romans, and
were worn by the Roman ladies, who
usually carried the KEYS of their jewel
caskets i'll this way. Not very pretty, is
it9 And fearfully heavy. think it might.
have been a wintor ring. You know the
luxurious Romans had heavy rings for
winter and light.ones for summer What
they fcE Il beautiful about bronze rings
don't know, but it seems tney wore guam
titie5 Of them, anI som 9simes thev were
very linely engraved. Their welding rings
were not even made OF bronze, but of iron,
which was supposed to be symholical of
the lasting character of the engagement.
Here is a drawing OF the marriage ring
worn by Martin Luther, the structure OF
which was very Intricate. II was very
ingeniously coatrived double ring, every
intricacy of structure having its
particular meaning Though tho
double ring can be divid "a
so as to form two co-nplete rings yet they
are permanently interlaced, 50 that they
can not be separated from one another,
thus illustrating the marriage VOW and
the motto en- gravcd within them in Ger
man: ''What God hath Joined let no man
part" The ring was designed by the cell
ebrated painter, Louis Cranaca, Lutler's
friend
''Tall you something about modern en-
gagement ring5l Well, a solitaire dia-
mend is still the favorite thing. Small
stones are fashionable this year, a one
carat diamond being considered quite
large enough for au engagement ring
This freak of fashion is appreciated by
impccunious youths who are marrying
girls with monay, can tell you. Not that
they always pay for the engagement ring
before marriage, though. Our firm al
ways insists upon it now, for we have
rI2do more bad debts on engagement
rings than on any thing else. You
captured an heiress buys her
handsome ring and has it Charged on the
strength of his future papa-in-law's bank
balance. Taen, for the first few months
after marriage he doesn't Ike to let his
Gdoring Clara know that her engagement
ring is still unpaid for, which she certain
~ would if he would apply to her papa for
money to settle an old jewelry account
And after those first few m Oaths are over
ard he is no longer trouble by scruples
Of that kind, it is often too late to ext ract
money for any purpose whatever. Papas-
in-law 80 frequently fail to fulfill the ex-
rcctations of the too sanguine youths who
marry their daughters.
srrhn criyri1 Of ao 3. -
confined to men any longer. 1t is the correct
thing now for bridc-elcct to present an en-
gaged-ring to her Gdnce The proper kind of
ring for this purpose-or, at least, that
declared proper by New York authorities,
contains a cat's-eye, with diamond on
each side, or else u sapphire between q ia
monds, imbeddcd in gold in the gypsy
fashion.
YES, most young ladies prefer diamond
solitaires for their engagement rings, but
occasionally we find one who likes color
ed stones botte". For these ruby or
sapphire lin preference to an emerald or
pearD Is set with two diamonds diagon-
ally, or 'cross-heai' as we call it, like
this"
Here we were shown heavy wire band
set with superb sapphire and two very
pure, though small, diamonds. "That one
is worth three hundred dollars, and is an
order from a wcil-known and wealthy
bachelor, who has lately become en-
gagged, not to q Chicagoan. Ho has
bound me over to secresy about the ring
and the address to which we are to send
it, and says am the only person il Chi
ca2o who knows about his engagement,
which is to be kept strictly private.
''Oh, yes, often have secrets of that
kind to keep, and pretty hacd work it is
sometimes, when one of your best lady
customers comes in AMI asks you to tell
her whether it really is a fact that Mr.
So-and-So bought diamond ring last
week and had it sent TO such and such a
place.
Nv Wedding rings are much more slender
than those we have sold in former years
They should BE- of gold of eighteen or
twenty-five carats, the first being harder
and more durable and the latter more gel
low"